HONOR, DIGNITY, AND PRIDE

Honor, Dignity, and Pride 7

🎚️ Two Levels Underground: Room 1 (The Confession Room)

The pitch-black darkness behind my eyelids gave way to an ice-cold wave of water crashing against my face.

The eight victims opened their eyes two levels beneath Tekton Holding, in the basement of the Worm Fertilizer Factory—a space reeking of damp, decaying soil and heavy ammonia. But this was no ordinary, abandoned warehouse; it was a claustrophobic dungeon encased in cold steel walls.

Every one of them was chained to the wall with thick, rusted iron shackles. The most terrifying sight, however, was on their faces. Bound tightly to their heads with heavy iron screws were massive gas masks that completely covered their eyes and mouths, leaving only a tiny filter over the nose. At the mouth region of each mask was an integrated microphone glowing with a small, steady red light.

"W-where are we?! What is this on my face?!" screamed General Manager Gürkan. His voice bled through the internal microphone and echoed violently from the giant speakers perched in the corners of the room.

Gürkan frantically rattled his wall shackles back and forth to break free.

At that exact moment, a blue spark flashed from the metal electrodes positioned at the temples of his mask. Gürkan’s entire body violently convulsed from the electric shock; his teeth chattered violently, and he collapsed to his knees with an agonized shriek. The mechanical voice embedded in the masks resonated through the room:

"Those who disobey the rules will be punished. Attempting to escape will bring you nothing but more pain."

The massive LED screen in the center of the room illuminated. Facing them stood seven heavy steel doors. Above the first door, bold letters read ROOM 1: THE CONFESSION ROOM. The remaining six doors opened into absolute darkness—and behind every single door awaited another lethal end tailored just for them.

A red digital countdown timer began ticking backwards from 05:00 minutes on the screen. The mechanical voice emanating from the speakers chilled the eight monsters to the very marrow of their bones:

"Seven rooms lie before you. In each room, you will confront the shameless depravity of one among you. Whoever speaks the truth will earn the right to escape the toxic gas filling their mask and proceed to the next chamber. As for those who lie or remain silent... their lungs will melt away as sulfuric acid gas fills their masks. Our first victim: General Manager Erman, who choked the breath out of people with his arrogance."

The red light on Erman’s mask began to flash rapidly, like a frantic blink.

"Mr. Erman... How many people's dignity have you trampled over during your seven years at this holding? What did you feel when you forced Can to sign those forged invoices and destroyed his life? Your microphone is open. Speak the truth and unlock the steel door behind you. Remember, if you lie, the voltage at your temples will double, and gas will be released into your mask. Your time begins now."

As Erman gasped in absolute terror inside his mask, his nearby partners—İlkay and Sevgül—began screaming at him: "Talk, Erman! Tell them whatever the hell you did! We are not going to die here because of you!"

Erman’s legendary arrogance was on the verge of breaking for the first time in the face of mortal terror. But the high-pitched hum of the electricity at his temples was already piercing his ears.

CHAPTER 2: The Confession Room (Part 2 — The Can Conspiracy)

The digital clock counted down relentlessly: 02:30... 02:29...

General Manager Erman had collapsed to his knees on the filthy, freezing concrete of the dungeon. The buttons of his white silk shirt were ripped open, his chest drenched in cold sweat. Sweat dripping from his forehead seeped under the edges of the iron-screwed gas mask tightly gripping his face, trickling down his neck. The giant of a man who lived by his ego was now coughing choked gasps, suffocating on the first leak of sulfuric acid gas inside the mask.

"Talk, Erman! You’re going to get us all killed!" shouted Mr. İlkay, rattling his chains violently.

Erman groaned in agony as the terrifying electricity at his temples detonated, his eyes turning bloodshot. Spittle coated the inside visor of his mask as he began rasping out the grand truth into the built-in microphone, vomiting his confession:

"I did it... Yes! I was the one who put those forged budget documents in front of that pathetic kid Can, telling him it was a promotion letter! You think I acted alone, damn you?! All of you were there! Everyone's hands are stained with that kid's blood!"

Erman was sobbing hysterically, groaning in pain, yet his rage burned hot enough to consume everyone in the room. Inside his mask, he swung his head toward Gürkan:

"Gürkan! You were the one standing guard at the door when I made Can sign those papers in my office! You knew damn well the kid’s life would be ruined, that he’d rot in prison! But you turned your head and looked the other way in exchange for me hushing up the filthy things you were doing with the workers in the parking garage and the restrooms! You stayed silent!"

Manager Gürkan recoiled in horror behind his mask. "He's lying! Shut your mouth, Erman!" he shrieked.

Erman didn't stop; he turned his head toward Sevgül and Berlin. Tears streaming from his eyes trickled beneath the mask.

"Mrs. Sevgül! You knew Can was innocent and that I stole the money from the very beginning! But you didn't give a damn, just so the holding's reputation wouldn't be tarnished and your luxury social life and diamonds wouldn't be touched! You didn't even look back, saying, 'Are we going to shake up the holding for the sake of a day laborer?' And you, Berlin! You knew too! But you sold your conscience and kept quiet just so that million-dollar event tender would fall to you and those funds would flow into your account!"

The tension in the room morphed into an ice-cold wave of pure hatred. Erman spat toward Cevdet the Ferret and continued:

"Cevdet... You are the head of security for this holding. You were the ferret who wiped the camera footage and computer logs that would have proven Can's innocence! You erased that kid's entire future with your own hands just for the mole's share you were getting from me!"

Finally, Erman turned to Mr. İlkay and the silent partner, Marut. His voice now sounded like the rasping growl of a dying monster: "And you... the big bosses! Mr. İlkay and Mr. Marut! Can's father tried to blow the whistle on your illegal import operations in the past—the Ponzi scheme you built with Süphan, didn't he? Out of sheer revenge and hatred for that man, you intentionally turned a blind eye while we framed his son! You stayed silent just to get revenge on that family!"

The colossal locks on the heavy steel door behind Erman snapped open to both sides with a deafening, metallic crash. A green light illuminated the room, and Erman’s shackles released into thin air.

His shirt in tatters, drenched in sweat and tears, Erman crawled groaning across the concrete toward the door. Reaching the threshold of salvation, he turned back to the seven partners he was leaving behind with the last of his strength. Pure disgust burned in his eyes. He screamed through his mask with utter venom:

"I vomited out how we ruined Can’s life with my own mouth, and I am leaving this room! But you... you are left here alone with the sewage souls you hide behind one another! Rot here eating each other's flesh, you spineless monsters!"

With painful groans and sobs, Mr. Erman crawled through the green-lit doorway. The heavy steel door slammed shut behind him with a thunderous bang and locked into place.

Inside the room, the digital clock continued its ruthless countdown for those remaining: 00:45... 00:44...

The red light on the next victim’s mask began flashing rapidly: Manager Gürkan.

"You never looked at the dirt crushed beneath you. You never saw those shadows—the ones you stepped on and called 'day laborers.'"

Gürkan’s face was framed in red on the screen. The clock read 00:15.

"Time is running out. Finding out who did this will not save you, Mr. Gürkan. Mr. Erman threw your filthy affairs with the workers and interns, as well as your role in the Can conspiracy, right in your face. Now, the door to Room 2 will only open if you confess to those blackmail tapes with your own mouth. Otherwise, the sulfuric acid gas in your mask will be released. 10... 9... 8..."

Gürkan began screaming in absolute terror, violently shaking his chains. "No! No! I am a scoundrel! I did it!" he wept, slamming his body against the wall. But the hum of the electricity at his temples was already buzzing.

00:03… 00:02… 00:01… 00:00!

The second the countdown hit zero, the harsh fluorescent lights on the room's ceiling snapped off, replaced instantaneously by a blood-red emergency light. The red microphone indicator on Manager Gürkan’s mask flashed frantically like a bomb detonator.

"No! Stop! I'll tell the truth!" Gürkan shrieked frantically. His voice crackled through the speakers. At that moment, the giant LED screen on the wall flickered to life with static. There were no numbers or text on the display. Instead, secret camera feeds projected directly into the room, showing the dim parking garage of the holding company, the frosted-glass restrooms of the plaza, and the secluded archive rooms on the lowest basement floors. The filthy hunting ground that Gürkan had meticulously kept hidden for seven years—disguised behind his title as Human Resources Manager—was laid bare before the eyes of every partner like a cinematic nightmare.